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Imagine waking up one day and checking your Facebook page and finding out you’d just lost thousands of dollars. That’s what happened to the organizers of the Edwardian Ball.

Justin Katz thought, “Oh, no. Not again!” Katz isn’t walking under a black cloud, at least, not in San Francisco where the event is entering its 12th year this coming weekend. “Last year, our second year [in Los Angeles], we had a curious incident where I learned the venue [the Music Box] had doubled booked. The owners of the Music Box asked us to please move our date to later, in March.”

The Edwardian Ball takes its name from a writer, Edward Gorey. That Edward and the reign of England’s King Edward gets people in the mood for antiquated manners and dress and a bit of murder and mayhem. That doesn’t mean one should expect a murder mystery–just an assortment of characters who are slightly sinister–maybe even a bit seedy. Think drawing room murder mysteries and fractured fairy tales. People might be evil or mean, but, good gracious, they have manners. But the organizers are finding that’s not true for everyone.

Katz thought that despite the delay, it was “a fabulous event.” People in Los Angeles certainly got into the spirit of the event dress up as goth, Edwardian, steam punk or just get out and have fun fashionable. Throwing on your best corset and applying lots of dark makeup was enough for some. You could dance, you could shop and you could check out new ideas for your next costume.

This year’s event was set to take place on 4 February 2012–just two weeks after the two-day event in San Francisco (20-21 January 2012). “We found out about it because a blogger posted it first; someone posted on the Edwardian Ball Facebook page. We did a little poking around.” The final nail in the coffin was the post on the Los Angeles Times. From a 9 a.m. Facebook post to an afternoon news article. News travels fast with the Internet.

The organizers of the Edwardian Ball had already pre-paid for the event. “The internal turmoil that must be the Music Box, resulted in it closing suddenly and without explanation.” That means–no news about that happened to that sizable down payment. “We’re left in an unfortunate situation of losing that money with little hope of recouping it.”

Katz wanted to be clear that “the staff and crew of the Music Box were excellent–most gracious and helpful to us.”

If you have the weekend free, Katz stated there are still tickets available for the original Edwardian Ball in San Francisco. And the event has been growing. This year it includes an entire additional floor in the historic Regency ballroom–a museum of wonders. “The museum takes an idea that has been part of the ball since 2006, of displaying art collections, curiousities and oddities…It’s as if you’re stumbling through an eccentric old mansion full of treasures and strange delights.” Katz also hinted there will be performances in shadowy corners.

If you don’t have a costume, don’t worry. No one is turned back for lack there of. But wearing a costume makes you part of the fun.

And the winner was the invisible man and woman but we do need someone to take these tickets off our hands so if your calendar isn’t filled up, take the time to send us an email before 5 a.m. Saturday morning and we’ll have a drawing and announce the winner before noon on Saturday. Is your life dreary? Black and bleak and weary. You know what is the cure? A night out of the ordinary.

The Edwardian Ball began as an ordinary day, perhaps too ordinary. By chance, a couple happened to wander among the musty shelves of a second-hand bookstore in Seattle. Their eyes happened upon a lime green tome. Some say they were guided by unknown forces for these were no ordinary Katz. They happened to be members of a pagan lounge, a coven.

On a dark deserted night someone suggested a night celebrating the illustrator of that peculiar book with bats and potions. And thus the tradition was born in San Francisco 11 years ago.

In time, the coven invited another group, Vau de Vire to join them as co-hosts in this mad night of costumes and historical hysteria in San Francisco. Now they’ve brought the madness to Los Angeles for a second time.

You can join these couples and many more at the Music Box. Send us an email and we’ll put you in a drawing for the tickets. Otherwise, the tickets will be returned to the box office.

Want to win a pair of tickets to the second Los Angeles Edwardian Ball? You can email your answers to our gmail account: LALatinDanceExaminer@gmail.com. The email must have the heading “Edwardian Ball Contest.” The questions must be answered in order. The email must be received by PCT (because we are in Los Angeles) 11:59 p.m. Thursday night. We will not be accepting any responses before Thursday noon. You can enter only once per every two hours.

We will only be looking at the emails by factors of 13 (1, 13) and then multiples of 13 ( 26, 39, 52, etc.) up to 13 squared. From those emails, only the ones with all correct answers will be put into a drawing. The winner of the drawing will be announced Friday morning. Tickets can be picked up at will call on the night of the ball (Saturday, 5 March 2011).

The contest is only for tickets to the event. It does not include parking or transportation to the event from your home or work. It doesn’t include clothes to the ball or any swag at the event.

The Music Box is located at 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028. For more information on the venue please call 323-464-0808 or visit http://www.themusicbox.la. Doors open and show begins at 8:00pm, and all ages are welcome (minors must be accompanied by an adult 21+ with valid ID). General admission tickets are $28-$35 in advance, and a very limited amount of VIP Booths ($450) and VIP Balcony Couches ($500) are available for parties of up to 8. VIP packages include best/reserved seating, table service, and complimentary absinthe cocktails. For more information and online tickets, please visit http://www.edwardianball.com.

In the case of no one getting all the answers, the person with the most correct answers will win. If no one gets any of the answer correct, the tickets revert to the box office.